The Body
by ArcAngel-liberty4all
Summary: A murder takes place. The body is identified as a Pearson Spector employee, a detective goes to the firm to break the news. Hurt! Harvey, Hurt Donna, Hurt Jessica, (sort of hurt mike)


**The Body**

Detective Carrie Mayes arrived on scene just after seven a.m., coffee in hand. A body had been found; white male, late twenties, blond hair. She looked down at the victim; he had been a good looking man, slim, approaching six foot, and his boyish features frozen in an expression of surprise after the ugly red gash which opened his throat. The M.E. stood as Carrie approached.

"I'm putting time of death between ten and midnight last night, body was half hidden behind a dumpster, a shopkeeper was taking out the trash and thought he'd had too much to drink before he found him. Normally I would have said a particularly brutal mugging, but his phone and wallet were found on the body, with fifty dollars still inside, although no apartment keys, so if it was a mugging, they could have robbed his house." Carrie took the offered wallet and flipped it open.

"Michael Ross, 28, works at a law firm called Pearson Spector, lives a block and a half away; he was probably attacked on his way home. I'll contact the family and then head over to the firm to talk to them."

Jessica Pearson had been having a good morning. It was 8 am and after a very trying year, the firm was back on top. Two new clients, each worth hundreds of millions of dollars had been brought in in the past week, and Harvey was working out well as a named partner. There hadn't even been any issues with his associate. Things were going well.

However she had the bad feeling that her day was about to get significantly worse. Her assistant had just informed her that a police detective was here to see her about an urgent matter. She hoped that it was to do with one of their clients, and not the secret that could ruin her firm.

A professional looking woman in her mid-thirties was approaching, small and slim with wavy brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail.

"Detective Mayes" Jessica said, putting on her most charming smile and shaking the woman's hand. "Please have a seat"

"Ms Pearson, thank you for taking the time to see me, I understand you must be busy running such a large firm" Carrie responded.

"Not at all, may I ask what this is concerning?"

"I'm afraid I have some bad news concerning one of your employees. A body was found this morning, and the body has been identified as Michael Ross." Jessica felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She hadn't known the kid that well, but to realise that all of that energy, all of that talent was gone came as a shock.

"I see." Jessica was able to get out.

"I appreciate that this is a shock and I have some questions for you, but the first thing I need to know is if Mr Ross had an emergency contact, we couldn't find any family, but if you have any information on a friend we need to contact we need that information." Carrie said gently. Jessica took a breath; the immediate thought was Harvey, and the realisation that the younger man wouldn't know.

"I think we need to continue this conversation in the office of my partner, Harvey Spector." Jessica continued, her mask of professionalism reforming now the shock had worn off a little. "Mr Ross was Harvey's personal associate, and as far as I know Harvey was his emergency contact. We need to bring him into the loop now, and he will probably be far more able to answer your questions than I will."

"Of course", Carrie agreed.

The walk down the corridor, in reality probably less than ninety seconds, felt like eternity to Jessica. Harvey was strong, and rarely formed personal attachments, but he'd formed one to the kid, even Donna had formed one to the kid, and Donna was one of the most formidable women who worked at Pearson Spector. As they approached the glass office, Jessica could see that Donna was in her cubicle, and Harvey sat at his desk, papers spread around laptop to one side, working on one of his cases. Jessica felt a lump rise in her throat at the thought of what she was going to do to him but she forced it down. Regardless of the battering their relationship had taken in the past year, she would need to be strong for him now.

They had arrived.

"Donna, please come in, you will need to hear this too." Jessica said, her words polite but her voice hollow. She swept through the glass door.

"Harvey." She said.

"Can it wait?" He began not looking up, "It's just I have my hands full right now going over the files of one of your new …" He looked up and stopped speaking immediately, realising that something was wrong. "What's happened?"

"We should sit down" Jessica said, the command evident in her voice, and it spoke for how far the possibility of Mike's death was from Harvey's mind, that he followed her to the couch as if the detective was simply another client in some kind of crises. Carrie leant over and shook hands with Harvey.

"Mr Spector, my name is Detective Carrie Mayes, I'm afraid I have some bad news regarding your associate. We found a body this morning, and it appears to be Michael Ross." Carrie stopped, trying to let the news sink in.

"Oh my God" Donna whispered, real tears filling her eyes and letting her mascara start to run. Harvey was harder to read, his face could have been carved from stone, anger and disbelief warring in his eyes.

"No" he said simply, "No it can't be Mike, I was working with him last night; I ordered him pizza".

"I know this is a lot to accept, but we found his wallet intact, and according to the photo ID the body we found was your associate. We will need someone who knew him well to come down to the morgue later today to identify the body."

Jessica was watching Harvey, Donna was sobbing quietly beside him but Harvey was so still, disbelief written on his face, hands trembling almost imperceptibly.

"How" the word was terse and the battle for control was clearly evident to both Donna and Jessica.

"His throat was slit in an alley a couple of blocks away from where he lived; he still had his phone and wallet on him so we're ruling out the possibility of a mugging." Carrie looked at the people in front of her, the man who had been so crisp and handsome when she first saw him was somehow wilted, and he looked as though he'd aged a decade. "Was there anybody who disliked Mike, in the office, or perhaps someone who lost something in one of your cases who could have focused on Mike as a cause?" Carrie asked. The people in front of her were far more affected than she was used to at the work place of the victims; then again, her victims usually had family and friends.

"I know he had some problems with hazing from other associates. Mike was very gifted and some people got jealous of that, but as far I know that's all been over for a while. Louis oversees the associates and he's more likely to know the detail if anything has been going on than I am." Harvey spoke, trying to remember any details Mike had told him about his personal life. "He used to be friends with this asshole called Trevor who was never up to any good, but as far as I know he's also been out of the picture for months. I honestly don't know who'd do this. You could talk to his girlfriend, Rachel Zane, she works here as a paralegal." Harvey had gone numb, he guessed it hadn't hit him yet; he just couldn't quite comprehend the idea of Mike being dead, worse, Mike being murdered.

"Anything you need, any information let us know, and as far as confidentiality lets us we will respond. Mr Ross was well liked here and we would like to see him get some justice." Jessica said smoothly.

"Thank you, although I think you will find that in a murder case, confidentiality is usually waved." Carrie said. Jessica nodded her mask firmly in place.

"I hope that you will understand, Detective Mayes, that we would prefer this case kept out of the papers, we will of course do anything we can, but the firm has just gone through a transitional period, and that sort of media attention would not be welcomed. I'm sure working in homicide as you do you can appreciate…" Jessica's voice halted in shock, for the first time her professional façade completely shattered as all her focus went from the detective to the figure she could she through the glass wall of the office.

The blond barrelled through the door. "Harvey I'm sorry I'm late, I was going to call but some dick lifted my phone and my wallet when I was on my way home yesterday, and I'm interrupting." Mike stopped, suddenly uncomfortable with all the scrutiny as four faces, Donna's still covered with tears. "I'll just go to my cubicle." Mike said, and started edging back to the door only to be stopped by Donna barrelling into his chest, arms flung around him sobbing violently,

"Um… it's okay" he said, awkwardly patting her back, Donna had never hugged him before, and certainly never so dramatically. He looked to Harvey for an explanation, but the older man was no help at all, Harvey was standing, looking more shaken than Mike had ever seen him.

"Mike." Harvey's voice sounded hollow, and suddenly he was practically running across the room and Mike found himself enveloped in a hug from the senior partner as well. This was beyond bizarre.

"Can anyone tell me what's going on and why I feel like I've entered an alternate dimension?" Mike said. "I mean the hug's nice but it's weird, you guys never hug me." Harvey stepped back; one had remaining firmly on Mike's shoulder, not looking away from his associates face. Donna did not move. Jessica was angry, yes she was relieved that the kid was alive but that was no excuse for putting her and two of her employees through a horrific emotional experience.

"Would you mind explaining to us why you told us that you had found Mike Ross's body when Mr Ross is clearly alive and well, Detective?" Jessica's voice was cold as ice.

"Wait, you found my body?" Mike started before a look from Harvey silenced him.

"I think you'll find what I said was we found a body whose identification led us to believe was Michael Ross, and we needed you to confirm the identification at the morgue." Carrie replied, trying to regain control of the situation. She walked over to Mike and handed him two photographs taken at the scene "Mr Ross, do you recognise the man in these photos?"

Mike felt the bile rise in his throat as he looked at the dead man's face. "Yeah, he bumped into me yesterday as I was leaving the Shanty Bar, I guess he does look kind of like me when you think about it, he must have lifted my phone and wallet from me then." Mike looked back at the detective.

"I cancelled my cards but if you have my wallet could I have it back, it's just it's a real hassle to get everything replaced." Mike was hopeful, sure he was sorry the guy was dead but he wasn't about to surrender everything in that wallet.

The detective looked embarrassed to Jessica. "I'm afraid they are in evidence at the moment but we'll get them back to you as soon as we can. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, and for any grief I've caused you, but please understand, we really did think the victim was Mr Ross."

With that Carrie Hayes made a hasty retreat, leaving three shell-shocked and one irritated person behind. She winced as she heard Donna say:

"Do you think we can sue her for emotional damage, because I'd say being told the puppy was dead is pretty damaging."


End file.
